


Everything I was searching for

by SiLVeR_MisT



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Adapted and remix from existing works, Alternate Universe, Angst and Feels, Best Friends, Bisexual Nate, Bisexual Sara, Bisexual buddies, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Family Reunion, Inspired by previous work, Lesbian Ava Sharpe, Roommates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:47:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29750850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SiLVeR_MisT/pseuds/SiLVeR_MisT
Summary: “I wouldn’t want to impose. Six weeks is a long time to make Ava share her room, especially when she just got back home. I’d be happy to sleep on the couch.”“That’s just silly. I’m not making our guest sleep on the couch. Ava would be happy to share her room with you. Wouldn’t you, Ava?” Ava visibly cringed at her mother’s words.“I’m more than happy to share but I’m also fine with sleeping on the couch, so Sara can have her own space.”“Or I could sleep on the couch,” Nate suggested. “I am the man here. The women should be comfortable.”“Don’t be silly. Nobody is sleeping on the couch. Plus, I figured you girls would enjoy sharing a room. It will give you the chance to get to know each other. After all, it’s only a matter of time before you’re sisters-in-law.” The type of bonding I wanted to do with Ava was anything but sisterly.orSara and Nate are both bisexual besties/roomies. Sara agreed to come home with Nate for a family reunion-vacation as his fake/pretend girlfriend where she met Nate’s lesbian twin, Ava and a bunch of his conservative family.
Relationships: Nate Heywood/Amaya Jiwe, Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe
Comments: 19
Kudos: 58





	Everything I was searching for

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [So can we dance? (Through an avalanche?)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23256055) by [dontshootmesara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontshootmesara/pseuds/dontshootmesara). 



> @dontshootmesara thank you so much for the blessing and support. You have been so kind for letting me borrow the concept of your story. 
> 
> Further, this story will also benefit from the works of Ms. Erica Lee, a very good and amazing gay author but will be delivered in Avalance fashion. 
> 
> A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are.

SARA LANCE

“Sara. Sara. Sara” 

A voice boomed over my bedroom door. I opened one eye then slowly opened the other, as I hear my name being called. Realizing it wasn’t going to stop, I hopped out of bed and made my way down the hallway. Once in our living room, I glared at my roommate, Nate. 

“What do you want?” I groaned. “It’s not even 8:00 yet.” Nate brushed me off with a shake of his hand. 

“I’m still on school time. I’ve been up for hours. Now that we unboxed and unpacked everything, I am appreciating our big apartment.”

“It’s not that big. It’s just not the sardine can we shared in the city.” 

A few weeks ago, Nate and I had moved from the apartment that we’d shared in New York to a New Jersey town about 30 minutes from our previous residence. It had been a tough decision to give up living in the city, but we both agreed this way we could save money, while not completely losing the city experience. It also gave us the chance to move to a significantly bigger two-bedroom unit.

“Lance don’t rain on my parade. It’s still bigger.” Nate whined

“Was that the only reason you interrupted my precious beauty sleep?” I picked up the box of cereal he had sitting out on the counter and poured myself a bowl.

“You’re already beautiful. No more sleep is needed.” Nate joked. “But…I also wanted to talk to you about my trip next week.”

I pushed my bottom lip out at the mention of his trip. He was going back to his hometown for six weeks, and I honestly wasn’t sure what I was going to do without him. He might drive me nuts most of the time, but he was still my best friend. 

“I thought we agreed not to talk about that. I am already sad to think about spending over a month of us apart.”

“That’s exactly why I brought it up,” Nate said excitedly, but something about his tone told me that I should probably be worried. He hesitated a beat before adding, “I was kind of hoping you would come with me.”

“To your family reunion?” I laughed at his suggestion. Nate brought his hands together as if praying and giving me his best puppy dog eyes. 

“Please. You work from home so it’s perfect. And it solves the issue of us being apart.” 

I was confused by his suggestion. Why would he want me to come home with him so badly? He had never told me a ton about his family. I knew they were super conservative and nagging on him to start a family, hence the reason he had yet to come out to them. Did he want me there as some sort of buffer? Would it make him feel more comfortable to have the presence of his more liberal bestie?

“Nate, I’m confused why you want me to go so badly. I mean, why are you just asking me now. You’ve been talking about this trip for a year.” I raised an eyebrow at him to show that I was questioning his motives. Nate smiled at me in return. 

“I want to spend some time away with my bestie. Is that so hard to believe? And I’m asking now, because I just thought of it. My mom suggested that I bring you actually.” I let out a hearty laugh. 

“Your super conservative mother with a super conservative family suggested you bring along your bisexual roommate to the big family reunion?”

“She did actually. Of course, she doesn’t know you’re bisexual. That’s the funny part. I think you might laugh,” he said nervously. “She actually thinks you’re…” He turned away from me and spoke the last part of his sentence into his hands, making it impossible for me to hear.

“She thinks I’m what Nate?” I asked, leaning forward to hear better. He already had me worried. What could he possibly say that I wouldn’t want to hear?

“She thinks…” Nate took a deep breath before looking me in the eyes. “She sort of thinks you’re my girlfriend.”

What? His girlfriend? The thought that I could be the girlfriend was hilarious to me. I tried my best to stifle my laugh, since Nate looked significantly bothered by this confession. 

“And why would she think that Nate?” He suddenly looked down at the foot he was dragging in circles across the floor. 

“I may have told her that when we moved in together. I figured she would find it weird if I was just moving in with some girl, so I told her I was moving in with my girlfriend. Of course, I didn’t think about the fact that she would lecture me about us living in sin, but…” I put my hand up before Nate could continue and shook my head in confusion. 

“I have so many questions right now. Prior to our current move, we moved in together four years ago. Your family thinks that you have been dating someone for four years and they don’t find it strange that they have yet to meet this girl? Also… living in sin? Really?... sheesh. That’s a lot, man.” Nate cleared his throat a few times, clearly nervous. 

“They actually think we have been dating for six years. There was no way I could tell my mom that we were shacking up right after we started dating. Because yes, to answer your question, they are that conservative. They do find it strange that they haven’t met you. They are pretty pissed about it, to be honest. Which is why I panicked when my mom asked if you were coming, so I told her that you were.”

“And when exactly did you tell her that?” I asked, not even trying to hide the annoyance in my voice. Nate tilted his head and bit his bottom lip, which was a nervous habit of his. 

“Mmmm…Last year.” he answered softly. When my brows furrowed in response to this confession, he raised his voice a bit and added, “I was planning to just say that something came up and you couldn’t make it, but she has been all over me about it. Pretty much if you don’t come, you’re going to be banished from my family.”

“Oh dear. How will I ever survive?” I dramatically placed my hand over my chest. Nate didn’t even crack a smile at my dramatics, and it made me feel a bit bad for teasing him.

“You wouldn’t understand,” he said softly. “Your family is nothing like mine. You grew up right outside of Philly. Your parents come up to New York City every year for Pride, and your sister makes huge donations to LGBTQ organizations in your honor. I don’t think anyone in my family has ever even met a gay person. They were appalled when gay marriage became legal a few years ago. Not to mention that I was expected to get married and start a family right after I graduated. I love my family, but they have a ton of expectations that I’ll never be able to live up to.”

I squeezed his shoulder. His family was the one part of his life that Nate hadn’t really shared with me, and I never realized how bad it was. 

“You can always tell the truth you know.” I tried to keep my voice soft, so it didn’t sound like I was chastising him. His shoulders dropped just a little. 

“I know but I can’t, not yet. I just need to find the right time and this family reunion isn’t it. Trust me.” I sighed loudly. 

“You really want me to pretend to be your girlfriend? Do you realize that even though we are both like bisexual, we are super gay, dude?” Nate looked up at me and his eyes lit up, clearly aware that I was close to giving in. 

“Yeah, but you don’t exactly look too gay.” he pointed out.

I looked down at the shirt I was wearing that was tie-dyed rainbow with a big print and had the words ‘I’m so gay I can’t even think straight” written on it, then looked back at Nate with a raised eyebrow. He shrugged in response. 

“I mean, your hair is long, and you don’t always pull it into a ponytail. You wear dresses too. Just leave your flannels and rainbow prints at home and we can easily pull this off.”

“Uggghhhh…Do you realize…that’s like half of my wardrobe,” I whined. “I don’t know, Nate. This seems like a bad idea. I’m really sorry, but I’m not sure if I can do it.”

***

A week later, I stood in my room staring at the suitcase I had packed with the straightest clothes I could find. I wasn’t sure why I had agreed to this. Actually, I knew exactly why. Since becoming friends, Nate had been there for me through everything. Long nights of studying for exams. Even longer nights of partying, some of which ended with me in tears over some dude or a girl. He had even driven me back and forth to my hometown when my mom had a cancer scare a few years earlier. I closed my suitcase and lugged it down to the car, where Nate was waiting for me.

“Just for the record, I still think this is a bad idea,” I groaned as Nate started his car, and we began our three-hour drive to his small Maryland hometown. “But I refuse to mess this up, so give me a rundown of your family.” Nate grinned over at me. 

“Ready for this? You will be attending the Heywood Family Reunion. It’s my dad’s side of the family. The oldest person there will be my great grandmother, Martha. We call her Nana. Her son is my grandpa, Randy. He is married to my grandma, Pam. They had three kids and I’m honestly not sure who is coming in terms of great aunts and cousins twice removed and shit like that. They don’t really matter. I barely know their names, so you certainly don’t have to. The most important part is my dad’s immediate family. He is the middle child and has two brothers. Uncle Harold is the oldest. He is married to Aunt Jessica. They have three boys. My uncle Hugh is the youngest of the three siblings. He and my aunt Monica are kind of the black sheep of the family. They have two kids. They seem pretty cool, but I don’t see them much. Plus, they’re younger than us. Then, of course, there’s my twin…”

“Whoa! Hold up,” I interrupted, shaking my head vigorously in shock. “You have a twin brother and you never told me? I assumed you didn’t have any siblings. Now I find out that there’s a Nate clone out there.”

“We’re hardly clones.” Nate chuckled.

“Okay. You’re fraternal. Whatever. Tell me more about this mysterious twin. What does he do?” Nate smirked, like this was some sort of joke. 

“My twin just graduated from optometry school. That’s kind of the reason for this family reunion. Said twin was in California, so now that the whole family is back on the east coast, it seemed like a good time for a reunion.”

“And the whole family is able to take over a month off of work to hang out in Maryland?” Nate laughed again. 

“Oh, no one really has to take off of work. We just have family fun planned out for most weekends and some nights. The term ‘reunion’ is used very loosely in this case, since almost my entire family lives in the same town.”

I exhaled loudly, as I took in everything, he was telling me. I was starting to think that maybe Nate’s family was much more than I had bargained for. 

“So, what about you? What did your parents say that you stay in New York after college?”

“It’s cool only because my parents think that we will be moving back to town before we have kids.” Nate gave me a guilty smile. I shook my head in disbelief. 

“I feel like you’re living a double life.”

“You have no idea.” Nate groaned. He chewed on his bottom lip and added, “Like seriously, no idea. I feel like I can’t fully prepare you for how my family, heck, even my town, sees me. I was kind of the golden boy star QB back in high school, and that’s how they still see me.”

I scrunched my face up, wondering where he was going with this. It’s not like I didn’t know about Nate’s athletic side. We both played on a kickball team with other faculty members from the school he worked at, and we went to the gym together a few times a week. 

“I’m not sure why you think I would be surprised by that. I knew you played football. We’re literally such good friends because of how much we love watching sports together. As far as gay stereotypes go, I’m much more gay than you.”

“True but I’m more fashionable.” Nate pointed out with a laugh. “Seriously though, you know those guys we always make fun of at the gym? The ones who hit on you and try to impress you by talking about their days playing high school or college sports? That’s how I am around my family.”

“I have a hard time believing that you’re actually a secret douchebag.” I argued.

“Okay. Maybe not. But I do act like I’m a lot more caught up in high school than I actually am.”

“Fair enough.” I studied Nate’s face and noticed how overwhelmed he looked. I had never seen him like this, and I felt for him. I patted his knee. 

“Don’t worry, bro. I got you. You’re my best friend. Nothing about this trip is going to change that. We’ll get through it together.”

He gave me an appreciative smile, and the rest of the trip was spent in a comfortable silence. As we pulled into his parent’s driveway, a small red car pulled in at the same time. 

“Awesome! There’s my twin, Ava!” 

The same smirk from earlier returned to his face. Instead of questioning it, I looked over toward the car that had just parked beside us. As I watched the person emerge from the car, my mouth went dry. Ava did not look like Nate, with the blonde hair, grey blue eyes and sexy body. Ava had long slender legs and a very feminine build; which made sense, since Ava was, indeed, a woman. I couldn’t tear my eyes away as I watched her reach up toward her hair, which was currently pulled into a ponytail, and let it out, shaking her head as it came to rest on her back. For a moment, I forgot where I was and felt like I was watching a movie play out in front of me. It almost seemed like the scene was happening in slow motion. I was entranced, as those grey blue pools focused on mine and the most gorgeous smile spread across her face. Then, all at once, it hit me. This wasn’t a movie. Ava was Nate’s sister, and I was currently staring at her as if I wanted to devour her, which, in all honesty, I kind of did.

I forced myself to look away from Ava and over toward Nate, and suddenly his shit eating grin made perfect sense to me. I not-so-playfully punched him in the leg. 

“Jerk! You told me you had a brother.” Nate laughed. “Actually, I didn’t. You just assumed that.”

“Well, you certainly didn’t correct me.” I argued. Nate was now laughing so hard that a few tears ran down his cheeks. 

“First of all, I was teaching you a lesson. I’ve told you multiple times that you shouldn’t interrupt people and you totally interrupted me when I was about to say twin sister. Also, you shouldn’t assume. You know what happens when you assume.” I rolled my eyes at him. 

“You’re such a teacher.” I groaned.

“And you’re ridiculously predictable. I knew you would be drooling over my straight, blonde sister.” I wiped my mouth, hoping there wasn’t actually drool there. Nate realized what I was doing and laughed even harder. “Emphasis on the straight, Lance. You can erase all of those thoughts from your head right now.”

“Whatever, Nate. I don’t go for straight girls.” I scoffed at his words.

“Since when?” He lifted one eyebrow at me. I squirmed a bit in response to his stare. 

“Since the last time I went for one and said I was done with it. What was that? Like three months ago? Plus, I totally don’t go for straight sisters of my fake boyfriend.” Nate simply shook his head and pat me on the knee. 

“I know you don’t.”

The moment was interrupted when we heard a knock on Nate’s car door, which Ava proceeded to tear open. 

“Well, aren’t you two just adorable?” She tilted her head in a way that was actually adorable. Ugh. I needed to stop. Nate was right. Pining over his sister, no matter how hot she might be, was a bad idea for so many reasons.

“Sis!” He jumped out of the car to wrap her in a hug. “Sorry I couldn’t make it to your graduation. I couldn’t get enough days off to fly out to California. It’s hard to get any time at the end of the school year.” Ava gave her brother one more squeeze before pulling back. 

“No worries. It’s completely understandable. Plus, it was ridiculously boring. I would’ve skipped it if I could have.” She then looked past her brother and right at me. “We’re being super rude right now. You must be Sara. I’m Nate’s sister, Ava. It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

Before I could respond, she skipped over to my side and opened the car door for me. My face must have turned red from her gesture, because she immediately looked down at her feet as though she was embarrassed. Real smooth, Lance. 

“Sorry if I seem a bit over excited. We’ve just been hearing about you for years, and I guess now that you’re here I’m excited to finally meet you.” She looked back up at me with a wide smile, as if I hadn’t just made her feel awkward.

“Don’t even worry about it. I guess I’m just not used to some chivalry.” I winked. Shoot. Was I flirting now? I needed to pull myself together, before I completely blew this for Nate. Ava’s smile widened and she looked past me to raise an eyebrow at her brother. 

“Hear that Nate? Your girlfriend doesn’t seem to think you’re much of a gentleman.” Nate simply chuckled and reached back into the car to grab my hand. 

“Oh, she’s just messing around. She knows I’m a big softie at heart. Right, sweetheart?” I tried my best to smile lovingly over at him. 

“Total softie. You should see him when we watch—” Before I could finish my sentence, Nate gave my hand a strong squeeze, as a warning that I needed to shut up. “Just kidding. He’s my big macho man. Aren’t you, boo boo?” I joked, attempting to imitate every annoyingly affectionate straight girl I had ever met.

Nate shook his head playfully, then let go of my hand so he could get out our luggage. I took this opportunity to get out of the car and stretch my legs, which were killing me from being cramped during the car ride. When I stood back up after bending down at the waist to reach for my toes, I noticed that Ava was staring at me. Great. She was probably trying to size me up and figure out if I was good enough for her brother, which I’m sure I was failing at.

“Shall we go meet the parentals?” Nate asked, as he awkwardly tried to carry all of our luggage. I smiled. 

“Of course. But let me help you with the bags, sweetie. Everyone already knows you’re a tough guy. No need to prove it.”

Nate let me take my bags without putting up a fight, and the three of us headed toward the house. As soon as we entered the doorway, we were greeted by a hallway filled with pictures of Nate and Ava. Nate in his football uniform. Ava in her cheerleading outfit. Ava leaned up against Nate, both wearing their respective uniforms. Nate in a suit and tie, standing behind some girl, both in a typical prom pose. Ava in a knee-length dress, with what looked like a homecoming crown adorning her head. Before I could take in the rest of the pictures, a voice came booming into the hallway. 

“Is that my MVP?” A man walked around the corner with a wide grin on his face. He was close to the same height and build as Nate, but his hair and eyes were much darker. Completely ignoring Ava and me, he pointed one finger at Nate. “Heywood makes his way down the field. He crosses the fifty. He’s at the forty, the thirty, the twenty. He…could…go…all…the…”

“WAY!” Nate shouted, doing some weird sort of combination between a chest bump and hug with his dad. I looked for Ava, curious to see how she was reacting to this, but she was no longer in the hallway. Just then, a short, blonde woman walked into the hallway, shaking her head. 

“Can’t you two tone it down a bit?” Shrugging her shoulders, she added, “Boys will be boys, I guess.”

Nate took this opportunity to drop back and stand next to me, taking my hand in his and leaning in close, as if he was about to place a kiss on my cheek. Instead, he whispered a barely audible apology into my ear. It took everything in me not to burst into laughter. This was already too much to handle. The blonde woman smiled at our interlocked fingers, then reached her hand out toward me. 

“It’s so nice to finally meet you, dear. We were afraid it was never going to happen.” Her tone was pleasant, but I didn’t miss the bite behind her words. I cleared my throat in order to give myself a moment to think. 

“Of course. I’m very sorry it has taken so long. Family is so important to Nate and me, and we wanted to make sure that we were at the point where we were ready to truly commit to each other, before we introduced each other to our families.” A wide smile spread across Nate’s face in response to my words, and I could tell he was thanking the gods above that his best friend was such a good bullshitter. His mom’s face softened a bit with my words as well. 

“That’s nice to hear. Although, I must admit that I don’t like the thought of you two sharing a bed until you are truly committed to each other either.” She looked down at my hand, as if she was searching for something. “And I still don’t see a ring there.” She looked back up at me and lifted both eyebrows. This woman was relentless. I was quickly realizing why Nate was so worried about coming out.

“Oh, Mrs. Heywood, you don’t need to worry about that. The thought of sharing a bed with your son honestly makes me sick. We each have our own bedroom at our apartment. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” I squeezed Nate’s hand and he smirked at me in a way that told me he was trying not to laugh. Dot’s face lit up and she reached out to grab my hand, shaking her head slightly. 

“I need to apologize to you. I misjudged you. I think you will make an excellent addition to this family once my son finally gets up the nerve to ask.” She released my hand and chuckled. “I’m also relieved. I thought it was going to be a fight when I told you that you were sharing a room with Ava while you’re here.”

With Ava? As in Nate’s bombshell of a twin sister?

“What?” Nate and I responded at the same time.

“Yeah. What?” a third voice piped in, as Ava walked into the hallway.

I looked over at Ava, hoping that she had somehow become less attractive in the five minutes since I had seen her last, so maybe sharing a room wouldn’t be such sweet torture. I had no such luck though and realized that she was even more attractive than I had previously noticed. Great. 

“I wouldn’t want to impose.” I answered, trying to think on my feet. “Six weeks is a long time to make Ava share her room, especially when she just got back home. I’d be happy to sleep on the couch.” Dorothy laughed way too loudly at my suggestion. 

“That’s just silly. I’m not making our guest sleep on the couch. Ava would be happy to share her room with you. Wouldn’t you, Ava?” Ava visibly cringed at her mother’s words. 

“I’m more than happy to share.” she answered a bit too enthusiastically, leading me to believe that it was a lie. “But I’m also fine with sleeping on the couch, so Sara can have her own space.”

“Or I could sleep on the couch.” Nate suggested. “I am the man here. The women should be comfortable.” Dorothy waved her hand at us. 

“Don’t be silly. Nobody is sleeping on the couch. Plus, I figured you girls would enjoy sharing a room. It will give you the chance to get to know each other. After all, it’s only a matter of time before you’re sisters-in-law.”

“You’re right, Mom. That’s a great idea.” Ava conceded. Dorothy clapped her hands together. 

“Perfect. Ava, show Sara up to your room and, Nate, for the love of God, please carry Sara’s bags. I thought I taught you to be a gentleman.” 

Before I could argue, Nate grabbed my bags out of my hands, leaving his own sitting in the hallway. We followed Ava up the stairs then down the hallway, to the farthest bedroom. As soon as we were inside, Nate dropped my bags onto the floor. 

“I’m going to go grab my stuff. Will you be okay if I leave you for a few minutes?”

I didn’t have a chance to respond, because Ava stepped up beside me and placed an arm over my shoulder. This simple contact sent a shiver down my spine that I was hoping she didn’t notice. 

“She’ll be fine. Mom was right. I need to bond with my future sis.” I tried my best not to grimace at her words. The type of bonding I wanted to do with this girl was anything but sisterly.

Once Nate left the room, Ava let her arm drop, and I used this opportunity to slip away from her and take a look around the room. The walls were a blush pink color, which matched the flowers on the mattress of her queen-sized bed. A large bookshelf stretched most of the length of one wall and was filled with a mixture of textbooks and cheerleading trophies.

“So, how long have you been dating my brother?” I jumped at the sound of Ava’s voice behind me.

I froze for a moment, realizing that Nate and I hadn’t talked about the “story” behind our relationship. I decided it was probably for the best to be as honest as possible, to assure that I didn’t confuse anything. 

“I met Nate during our freshman year at NYU. We had a gen-ed math class together.” I thought about the timeline that Nate had told me and quickly added, “We were friends for a while though. We didn’t officially start dating until our junior year.” A smile bloomed across Ava’s face. 

“Making him wait. I like that.” And I like your smile. I mentally slapped myself for having these thoughts. Chill out, Lance.

Our conversation was cut short by Dorothy calling for us to come down to the kitchen. When we got to the stairs, a small white-haired woman who looked to be well over eighty was slowly making her way down. 

“Let me help you, Nana,” Ava suggested, while reaching out to take her arm. The old woman swatted her away. 

“I’m not dead yet. I can walk myself.” Ava quickly let go, then turned back to smirk at me. She lifted one eyebrow, and I started to wonder if everything she did was ridiculously sexy.

After an excruciatingly slow walk to the kitchen behind Nana, Nate came up beside me and placed one hand on the small of my back. 

“Nana, this is my girlfriend, Sara. Sara, this is Nana.”

“It’s very nice to meet you.” I reached my hand out, but instead of taking it, Nana looked me up and down, then back toward Nate.

“Huh.” she muttered. “I thought you made her up.” Nate initially tensed up at her words, but once everyone else in the room started to laugh, I felt him relax again. The laughter was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.

“Ava, could you get that? It should be Amaya.”

“Amaya? Why is she coming?” Ava asked, without budging. Dorothy turned and gave her a pointed look. 

“Because I invited her. I saw her at the store today, and she was surprised to hear that both you and your brother will be home. She’s a family friend. I thought she was one of your best friends.” Ava looked over at Nate and then back at her mom. 

“I mean, sure she is when we were in high school. But Mom, don’t you think it’s awkward that you would invite Nate’s ex-girlfriend over on the first night that Sara is here.”

“Calm down, Ava.” Dorothy laughed. “That was high school.” Before Ava could say anything else, a voice yelled in from the hallway. 

“Knock knock!... Anyone home?”

“In the kitchen, Amaya.” Dorothy yelled, before giving her daughter a look that said she was unhappy their guest had to let herself in.

Within a few seconds, a girl with a dark hair, tight muscles, and brown eyes entered the room. She’s pretty, if you were into that sort of look. I noticed how she gave me a once over before turning her attention to the rest of the room. 

“It’s so nice to see all of you.” she spoke sweetly. Her eyes landed on Ava, leading me to believe that she was trying to avoid eye contact with Nate. Wow. Time to move on, sweetheart. You’re barking up the wrong tree. 

Within a few minutes, we were all seated at the dinner table, Amaya placing herself right between Nate and Ava. We made small talk, and the dinner seemed to be going well until the topic of careers came up.

“So, what do you do, Sara?” Dorothy asked.

“Oh, I am in charge of advertising for a non-profit. I work from home, which is why I was lucky enough to be able to come along on this trip.” I smiled, satisfied with my answer and happy that I had found a way not to mention that the non-profit was an LGBTQ organization.

“That’s a nice pastime.” Dorothy answered nonchalantly. “I’m glad to hear that you don’t have a real job. That way, when you two finally get married and start a family, you can be a stay-at-home mom. That’s the most important job in the world, you know?”

I could feel my face turning red with embarrassment over the fact that she had so easily blown off what I do for a living. While I contemplated how to respond, I reached out and squeezed Nate’s knee, hoping he would say something in my defence. Instead, it was Ava who spoke up. 

“It is a real job, Mom. Advertising is what keeps companies running these days. Between the internet and social media, I’m sure it’s far from easy. Personally, I find it really cool that Sara is able to do that from home.” She smiled at me, then added a wink that made my whole body react.

“I second what Ava said. It’s super cool.” Nate finally added. Thanks, dude. As I gave them both an appreciative nod, I noticed that Amaya was no longer smiling. 

“Working on the farm means that I work from home too.” she said, trying to sound chipper, but failing. Instead, her voice was laced with jealousy. It took everything in me not to stand up and scream, He’s bisexual! Do you get it? He’s gay! Move on!”

Luckily, her little jealous outburst took the attention off of me. Hank’s face lit up at the mention of her farm, and he spoke for one of the first times since I had arrived. 

“How is the farm doing? You guys still have a bunch of chickens?” I took a deep breath, as the conversation drifted to farm life, and away from me.

Once dinner was over, I offered to help with the dishes, but was relieved when Dorothy refused to let me. I excused myself and motioned for Nate to follow me to the back porch. Once outside, I plopped into a chair that faced a lake located at the edge of their property. I let my head drop back and let out a long breath. After a few beats, I finally looked over at Nate, who had sat down beside me. 

“So, your family is… nice.” Nate laughed lightly and shook his head at me. 

“You don’t have to lie, you know. I get it. They’re a lot. I promise you they mean well. They just see things backwards.”

“Your sister is nice at least, and Nana seems cool.” Instead of looking at me, Nate stared out across the yard. 

“Yeah, Nana is a hoot. The jury is still out on Ava. I do adore her, but we’ve never been close anymore. She tries way too hard to impress my parents.”

“Says the guy who brought home his fake girlfriend and does a choreographed touchdown dance to say hello to his father.” I lifted one eyebrow in an attempt to keep my words light-hearted. Nate sighed and rubbed his forehead. 

“You make a good point. Sorry about that by the way.”

“You don’t have to apologize. I’m just saying. Your sister didn’t even hesitate to stick up for me in there, and she barely even knows me. Maybe you should give her more of a chance.” Nate smiled slightly, while reaching over to take my hand in his. 

“You don’t have to do this. It’s only going to get worse from here. My family is really into doing separate male and female activities. That means you’ll be spending a lot more time with my mom. I could take you back home and tell them you died.” I chuckled at his words. 

“As much as I’d love to hear what your mother would have to say at my funeral, I’ll stick it out. We’re in this together.” I knew I’d made the right decision when Nate’s body relaxed. “With that being said, this was a lot for Day One, so I think I’m going to head to bed early if that’s okay.” Nate simply nodded, and I stood to head inside. Before opening the door, I turned back around. 

“By the way, that ex of yours is something.” Nate rubbed a hand over his forehead again and tilted his head slightly to the side. 

“Do you think she…?”

“Still wants to be with you?” I finished. “Absolutely.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.” Nate groaned.

I simply laughed in response, because what else could I do? This is going to be a very interesting six weeks.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you. Those two little words are often forgotten and seldom spoken.


End file.
